The final: Madison Bumgarner completely dominated Royals hitters, tossing a complete game shutout and earning his fourth win this postseason. Kansas City could manage only four hits off the Giants ace and only once had a runner in scoring position.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford gave Bumgarner all the offensive support he'd need by driving in the three runs with an RBI grounder in the second inning, a two-out single in the fourth and an RBI single in the eighth.

The victory puts the Giants one win away from their third World Series title in five years.

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State of the Series: The two teams knew entering Game 5 that they would be heading back to Kansas City for at least one more. The Giants will hand the ball to veteran Jake Peavy, while the Royals will go with rookie Yordano Ventura.

The two right-handers also met in Game 2 at Kauffman Stadium, a game the Royals won 7-2. However, that game was tied at 2 until the Royals broke it open against in the bottom of the sixth when Peavy was removed after failing to retire either of the first two hitters.

The line on Peavy: four runs in five innings and a loss. Ventura allowed two runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, but did not figure in the decision.

Man of the moment: Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner only added to his reputation as a dominant postseason pitcher, tossing nine scoreless innings, allowing four hits, no walks and striking out eight.

In 13 playoff starts, Bumgarner has a 2.27 ERA (21 ER, 83 1/3 IP) and he's been even better in the World Series – with one earned run allowed in 31 innings, good for a 0.29 ERA.

Bumgarner threw 117 pitches, 84 of them for strikes. At 47 2/3 innings, he's pitched more innings in one postseason than any left-hander in history. Yet he's been efficient enough that it's possible he could return on two days' rest to make a relief appearance in Game 7, if needed.

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Game 5 pivot point: With Bumgarner pitching so well, the game was essentially decided when the Giants were able to push across their first run in the second inning. Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt led off with back-to-back singles against Royals starter James Shields to get the rally started.

After Travis Ishikawa's deep fly ball to left field advanced the runners to second and third, the Royals had a choice to make: Play the infield in to cut off the run at the plate … or play the infield back to prevent the big inning.

Manager Ned Yost chose to play back and Crawford made it 1-0 with an RBI groundout to second.

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Needing a mulligan: The Royals had a couple of misplays in the field as the Giants added what turned out to be an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth inning.

With two outs and Pablo Sandoval on first, shortstop Alcides Escobar had a ground ball off the bat of Ishikawa go under his glove. He appeared to be there in time to make the play, but whether or not it took a true hop, Escobar didn't get the glove down to snag it.

The next batter, Crawford, blooped a single into center field that Jarrod Dyson charged, but couldn't come up with cleanly. Sandoval initially put on the brakes as he rounded third base, but trotted home after Dyson's bobble.

Neither one was ruled an error, but those are the kind of plays that need to be made in the biggest game of the season. Dyson's misplay was especially costly because Bumgarner was up next and struck out.

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Manager's special: The Royals put their first baserunner in scoring position on Omar Infante's one-out double in the fifth inning. Trailing 2-0 with Bumgarner on the mound and down to their final 14 outs, Yost essentially gave two of those outs away by not pinch-hitting for either center fielder Jarrod Dyson or starting pitcher James Shields.

You don't know when you're going to get a better chance to use Billy Butler and/or Josh Willingham against a left-handed pitcher. It was the best chance the Royals would have to leverage the advantage they have in those situations.

Not surprisingly, Bumgarner struck out both Dyson and Shields to end the inning.

(Butler ended up pinch-hitting for Dyson to lead off the eighth, but Bumgarner struck him out looking at a devastating curve ball.)

Game 4 in San Francisco -- Giants 11, Royals 4: Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco celebrates with first baseman Brandon Belt after scoring a run in the first inning. Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports

Game 3 in San Francisco - Royals 3, Giants 2: Giants right fielder Hunter Pence beats the throw to Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer for an infield single in the second inning. Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

Game 3 in San Francisco - Royals 3, Giants 2: Late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn was honored before the game. His family stood on the infield as a tribute was played on the center-field video board. Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

Game 2 in Kansas City -- Royals 7, Giants 2:Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is tagged out by Royals second baseman Omar Infante for a double play in the fourth inning. Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports

Game 2 in Kansas City -- Royals 7, Giants 2:Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar is tagged out on a stolen base attempt by Giants second baseman Joe Panik in the first inning. Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports

Game 2 in Kansas City -- Royals 7, Giants 2:Royals starting pitcher Yordano Ventura reacts after giving up a solo home run to Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco in the first inning. Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports

Both the Giants and Royals met the media before their workouts on Monday, a day before Game 1 of the World Series. Here are some candid photos of the day: Pablo Sandoval is all smiles as he answers questions. Christopher Hanewinckel, USA TODAY Sports